IS Design, Development and Project Management
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Paper Number
1765
Paper Type
Completed
Description
The traditional role of information technology project managers (IT PMs) is challenged significantly in agile information systems development (ISD) projects in which teams are self-managed. Thus far, research recognizes their contradictory role but overlooks to problematize the consequent identity tensions that IT PMs have to face. This is critical because IT PMs continue to play an essential role in ISD project success. Using identity theory as a lens, we conducted a qualitative interpretive study interviewing 26 IT PMs in agile ISD team settings. Our findings reveal five fundamental role identity tensions IT PMs experience during agile transformations. We provide a nuanced understanding of IT PMs’ role in agile ISD team settings to explain challenges in agile ISD. Moreover, we suggest moving from a narrow focus in IS research on agile ISD team-internal roles, such as developers, toward a broader focus that includes both team-internal and team-adjacent roles in agile ISD.
Recommended Citation
Mueller, Lea; Albrecht, Gregor; Toutaoui, Jonas; and Benlian, Alexander, "Role Identity Tensions of IT Project Managers in Agile ISD Team Settings" (2021). ICIS 2021 Proceedings. 8.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2021/is_design/is_design/8
Role Identity Tensions of IT Project Managers in Agile ISD Team Settings
The traditional role of information technology project managers (IT PMs) is challenged significantly in agile information systems development (ISD) projects in which teams are self-managed. Thus far, research recognizes their contradictory role but overlooks to problematize the consequent identity tensions that IT PMs have to face. This is critical because IT PMs continue to play an essential role in ISD project success. Using identity theory as a lens, we conducted a qualitative interpretive study interviewing 26 IT PMs in agile ISD team settings. Our findings reveal five fundamental role identity tensions IT PMs experience during agile transformations. We provide a nuanced understanding of IT PMs’ role in agile ISD team settings to explain challenges in agile ISD. Moreover, we suggest moving from a narrow focus in IS research on agile ISD team-internal roles, such as developers, toward a broader focus that includes both team-internal and team-adjacent roles in agile ISD.
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